Firefly Episode Discussions

What do you think ever happened to the Military leaders of the Independents?

POSTED BY: Vorpal
UPDATED: Friday, November 25, 2005 08:25
VIEWED: 15334
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Tuesday, November 15, 2005 6:07 PM

A few sad sad points to think of ....
Mal is and was a nobody. He was a low enlisted grunt in the Independents. He prolly only made sergeant due to attrition of troops. Our loveable captain being far too rebellious to be a good follower. The Alliance had him in prison for reimmersement into "society" but other than that they let him live. He is a petty criminal. Basing any ideas on what happened to the Independent leaders off of his story is pointless.

It is simple. This has been the way of man since the first rock fight.

Reintegrate, re-educate, reuse or remove.

Try to bring them over to your side - fear or reward.

Teach them that they can't live without you.

Use them to fill roles in society no one wants or is able to fill.

If they refuse-Kill them and publicly mourn their inability to "cope".

Wars dont end-goverments just stop counting the dead.


Shrew

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Tuesday, November 15, 2005 7:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Vorpal:
What do you think ever happened to the Military leaders of the Independents?I don't know if this was posted on any previous threads,if it was I apologize for missing it...
Mal seems to have some smuggler friends who were buddies in the war,but mostly he deals with criminals.I realize there weren't many survivors of the Battle of Serenity Valley,and he seemed to be one of the few leaders who survived,even though a Sergeant.Were there war crime trials,executions,life sentences on Penal worlds or did the victorious Alliance magnanimously forgive them in order to make Unification easier?
Are Mal & Zoe bitter about being abandoned by their own Commanders? Are there organizations of Browncoats such as Daughters of the Independents,or Veterans of Wars with the Alliance?

MAL-Arrived just in the nick of time,what does that make us?
ZOE-Big Damn Heroes,Sir.




Personally, after doing quite a bit of thought and research into the waning years of the Roman Empire (for a project that may take a bit to finish; "What if Rome never fell"), I have re-thought my ideas of mass-executions in the street (LOL). Now, I think that the higher-level leadership was "bought" by the Alliance, a la Julius Caeser. Buy them off, send them moderatly away so as to not cause problems, but still close enough to keep an eye on.

"I aim to misbehave"
I am: http://redwing.hutman.net/%7Emreed/warriorshtm/bigcat.htm

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Tuesday, November 15, 2005 11:15 PM

Tethys had a pretty good idea,but even during the last days of the Roman Republic,there was still opposition to Caesar that he couldn't buy off.There would still be some kind of Officer Corp that would survive,too low in the hierarchy to be bought off.Again the example Whedon seems to be working off of is the American Civil War.Picture the Reconstruction South and the West with groups of ex-Confederate settlers and farmers fighting carpet-baggers and occupying Federal troops.


Vorpal

MAL-Arrived just in the nick of time,what does that make us?
ZOE-Big Damn Heroes,Sir.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 4:05 AM

If you look at the deleted scenes on the DVD Zoe explains a bit what happened to Simon when he tried to look up the battle on the cortex.

Most of the officers were killed during the fighting. In fact, as a sergeant Mal had quite a number of troops under him due to the lack of officers. A large number of soldiers were killed or died of wounds and malnutrition. More died waiting for the peace talks to end. In fact, Mal and Zoe are the sole survivors from their unit.


That cuts out the middle corps of officers and leaves the big wigs and the "common" soldiers. The generals most likely cut sweetheart deals at the peace talks.

There is another flashback to the Battle of Serenity and when Zoe spots the med ships she asks Mal what flag the ships are flying and Mal replies "What flag is God flying?". I think he feels betrayed not only by losing to the Alliance but also by the Independent military leaders that sold them out.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 4:20 AM

Hello all. I'm new. Based on what I've seen from the Operative, Hands of Blue, etc, I'd say the leaders of the independents were executed.

"I don't wanna explode!"

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 5:16 AM

NCBROWNCOAT had part of it,but that's only if the entire Independence Officer Corp was at the Battle of Serenity.He is right that it wiped out most of the troops and Mal as a Sergeant was one of the highest ranking leaders left.Much like Gettysburg,where the South lost a large chunk of manpower that they could not recover,I believe the Battle of Serenity was probably similar.However,the entire Confederate Officer Corp was not wiped out at Gettysburg,and I have a hard time believing all the Independence Officers were all wiped out in one battle.Judging from the size of the verse and since they were a military threat to the Alliance,I have to think that the Browncoats were a sizable army.It was not a Guerrilla force or a terrorist group,it apparently was a large standing army.
In answer to the postings that claim they were all massacred or bought out,I still think that if they were,then Mal & Zoe would be terrorists still fighting,not smugglers & criminals.

VORPAL

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 5:22 AM

I've got a theory, based on the Operative's data profile listing Mal as having received a Medal of Valor for the Battle of Serenity. We have to ask, if the Battle of Serenity Valley was the last of the war, then when was that medal issued?

My guess is that it was during the two weeks of negotiation that followed the Alliance victory.
Chances are, the major part of that negotiation was on the issue of amnesty for former Browncoats -- (C/R the American Civil War amnesty)-- and that as a sop to Independent pride the Browncoat military was allowed to muster its own out with all due honors, including field promotions. And Mal had been acting as an officer in the field for months by that point.

Given that Mal still considers the delay to be a betrayal, there were probably some sweetheart deals cut for the former Independent High Brass. Getting a commission that way was probably the bitterest ashes in his mouth.

Losing the war broke Mal's heart. Being sold out by his own side for some political advantage is what killed his faith.

(I posted most of this on a previous thread, but it seemed to fit this one too.)


"If you can't do something smart, do something right." -- Shepherd Deria Book

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 5:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RocketJock:
I've got a theory, based on the Operative's data profile listing Mal as having received a Medal of Valor for the Battle of Serenity. We have to ask, if the Battle of Serenity Valley was the last of the war, then when was that medal issued?

My guess is that it was during the two weeks of negotiation that followed the Alliance victory.
Chances are, the major part of that negotiation was on the issue of amnesty for former Browncoats -- (C/R the American Civil War amnesty)-- and that as a sop to Independent pride the Browncoat military was allowed to muster its own out with all due honors, including field promotions. And Mal had been acting as an officer in the field for months by that point.

Given that Mal still considers the delay to be a betrayal, there were probably some sweetheart deals cut for the former Independent High Brass. Getting a commission that way was probably the bitterest ashes in his mouth.

Losing the war broke Mal's heart. Being sold out by his own side for some political advantage is what killed his faith.

(I posted most of this on a previous thread, but it seemed to fit this one too.)


"If you can't do something smart, do something right." -- Shepherd Deria Book



ROCKETJOCK,I think that's the best answer in this entire thread.Direct & to the point.

VORPAL

"We've done the impossible,and that makes us mighty..."

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 6:13 AM

I agree. That seems very plausible.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 6:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Vorpal:
Quote:

Originally posted by RocketJock:
I've got a theory, based on the Operative's data profile listing Mal as having received a Medal of Valor for the Battle of Serenity. We have to ask, if the Battle of Serenity Valley was the last of the war, then when was that medal issued?

My guess is that it was during the two weeks of negotiation that followed the Alliance victory.
Chances are, the major part of that negotiation was on the issue of amnesty for former Browncoats -- (C/R the American Civil War amnesty)-- and that as a sop to Independent pride the Browncoat military was allowed to muster its own out with all due honors, including field promotions. And Mal had been acting as an officer in the field for months by that point.

Given that Mal still considers the delay to be a betrayal, there were probably some sweetheart deals cut for the former Independent High Brass. Getting a commission that way was probably the bitterest ashes in his mouth.

Losing the war broke Mal's heart. Being sold out by his own side for some political advantage is what killed his faith.

(I posted most of this on a previous thread, but it seemed to fit this one too.)


"If you can't do something smart, do something right." -- Shepherd Deria Book



ROCKETJOCK,I think that's the best answer in this entire thread.Direct & to the point.

VORPAL

"We've done the impossible,and that makes us mighty..."



Yep, I agree too. What former Independent brass survived is sitting wealthy somewhere, or is out on the Border Moons living it up. Rance Burgess-esque, say.

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